Revisions
by Zelda Ophelia
Summary: Harry/Padma. Harry knew it had been pure luck, and probably a bit of taking advantage of his fame, that he had been accepted into Auror Training at all. Repost of my dearsanta fic for cynthia black.


Harry knew it had been pure luck, and probably a bit of taking advantage of his fame, that he had been accepted into Auror Training at all. Right now, however, he couldn't help but think it hadn't been his brightest decision to decide to continue on for another three years of school. Another three years of incredibly difficult, meant to wash people out school that he was only a year and a half into. He did know, however, that he hated exams, and revising for exams, as much now as he did at Hogwarts. Thankfully, like Hogwarts, he had friends to do his revising with. And, unlike Hogwarts, it was almost expected that you do your revising at the Leaky Cauldron or Three Broomsticks with a pint or two to help you along.

"Okay," Ernie Macmillan said, moving his papers around in front of him as if to look official. "The way I see it-"

"No, the way you see it, Macmillan, is incorrect," Padma Patil interrupted with an exasperated sigh. "And we've been trying to tell you that for the past quarter of an hour!"

"No, you're the one that's wrong," he started to argue, nearly sending Harry to cradle his head in his hands. "See, if you look at this-"

Macmillan broke off when a chip hit him in the head. "No wait a minute-"

"Actually, why don't we take a break," Harry interrupted, trying to ignore the relieved sighs around the table. "It looks like some of us need refills and I could use a bite more to eat."

"But-"

"And when we all come back," Harry continued, "we might as well put the _Concealment and Disguise_ revisions aside to get started on _Defense_. That exam does come first on the schedule and we've barely covered it yet."

"Good idea, Harry," Padma said, just as Ernie opened his mouth to protest again. She sent Harry a barely concealed sly grin, "I could use some more revision time for _Defense_ and we've spent more than enough time on this."

"Yeah, and I'm about to float to the loo," someone said from the back of the group, pushing his chair out and quickly rushing in that direction amid a round of twitters. That seemed to be the needed cue for everyone and the table quickly cleared as other Auror trainees either headed to the bar or made a break for it all together.

Harry resisted the urge to bang his head repeatedly against the table, instead resting his forehead gently on the edge and slowly counting backwards from 100. He had reached 34 when a basket of fish and chips was plunked down in front of him. "Oh, thanks. I didn't really need anything, just wanted to get him to shut it for once."

"C'mon, Harry, you look as peaked as I feel." Padma flopped into her seat next to him, pulling her basket of food closer. "You sure we can't kill him? We've learned tons of ways to make it look like an accident. And I'm fairly certain even the Wizenmagot would agree that it was a public service."

His sinuses burned as he nearly snorted his ale out his nose with his laughter. "You're certain of that, now, are you? Is that the defense you plan to use at your hearing?"

"Nah," she smirked at him as she reached for her pint, "I think I'll officially go for an insanity defense. _If_ I get caught. Then I figure you lot can testify on my behalf."

Any reply he had was lost as the rest of their classmates returned to the table to continue the revising. Harry was rather proud they made it through the _Defense_ revisions in record time, though he was certain that had more to do with the proximity of Zacharias Smith's foot to Macmillan's shin than anything he did. When the last of the stragglers, desperate to get a few more minutes of revising in hopes they may actually pass the exam, finally left he fell back into his chair in exhaustion. "I think I'm beginning to understand how Hermione felt when we were students, trying to keep Ron and I in line while studying."

Padma laughed as she stood and gathered her things. "I doubt you were that bad."

"More like we didn't care. It seemed a little frivolous in the long run, with Voldemort out there trying to kill us all." Harry stood, stretching before he started sorting his notes. "Now, however, I wish I'd listened to her. And studied more."

"You seem to be doing fine. Better than most of our class, even."

"I got a lot of practical experience. You should see my theory marks." He gave her a small, self deprecating grin. "Hermione would be apoplectic if she saw them."

"Really, Harry, they can't be that bad-" she broke off and looked at the paper he'd handed her, the last assignment that had been returned to them. "Oh, they are that bad."

"Yeah. And when it comes down to it, being the Boy Who Lived isn't going to keep me in the program if I can't get my marks up. Kingsley warned me they'd have to mark me harder due to my unusual circumstances."

Padma worried her lower lip with her teeth as she watched him finish packing up. "You know, Harry," She paused when he looked up, then said, "I've got a pretty good grasp of the theory-"

"A pretty good grasp? You have the top marks in the class," He interrupted, leaning against the chair he'd pushed in.

"Well, yeah. But I've been having some trouble with the practicals. And group study like this, while it is best for last minute cramming of the theory, only gets you so far when you have classmates like Macmillan who want to argue every last point." A frustrated look crossed her face, much to Harry's amusement, as she continued. "Not that I'm complaining, but when it comes down to it we spend most of the time tutoring our classmates and less getting our own studying done. So maybe we should work together. Just us, not the rest of the class. I can help you with theory and you can help me prep for the practical exams."

Harry considered it. She was right, these study sessions were helpful, but it seemed like they were always rehashing the same thing over and over again. But he had found that explaining and teaching had helped him better understand the topics himself. It would likely go better and be a lot more fun working one on one with someone who hadn't slept through the past three months of class and was now frantically trying to catch up. "What about the sessions like tonight? Would we cancel them all together?"

"And risk the mutiny of our classmates?" Padma joked, briefly wondering how the two of them had been unofficially elected the class leaders. "Actually, I think we should keep them up, though maybe not meet quite as often. They are useful, for us and our classmates. Plus, if we study together on our own we can concentrate less on learning the material ourselves on these nights and concentrate more on helping everyone else."

"So plan some sessions for just us on top of our class meetings. I think it sounds like a good plan." He nodded, then shuffled his feet - they may be out of Hogwarts, but she was still one of the prettiest girls in their class. "So, what are you doing tomorrow night?"

"I know of a great Muggle coffeeshop near my place, we could start with the theory revisions tomorrow."

"We'd be less likely to run into other Wizards there."

"And it's a big hangout spot for Muggle university students in the area, we'd blend in with them. As long as we used some silencing charms."

"It could be good practice of concealment and disguise - blending in without being invisible." Harry grinned as they started to walk out, pleased with their plan. "So I'll see you tomorrow."

"Great. And then you can figure out where we can actually practice the spells. We certainly can't do it there." Padma gave him a sly look.

He just returned her grin. "Oh I'm certain I can come up with a place. Nice and quiet, and isolated so we won't be interrupted."

She returned his smirk. "I'm sure you can."


End file.
